Combing-machine.



wh/Lum: Q-Qmg A Patented 001). 7, 1913.

5 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

i m s@ f o s 5ml/vbo@ IIIIIIHIIIIIIIIIH Mme :me: afa/ J. GOOD.

GOMBING MACHINE.

APPLIOATION FILED JUNE 1o. 1910.

Patented.' Oct. 7, 1913.

5 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

COLUMBM PLANOQRAPH Co.. wASHlNuTON. D. c.

J. GOOD.

COMBING MACHINE.

APPLIQATION FILED JUNE 1o, 1910.

Patented 001111913.

5 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

J. GOOD.

OOMBING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 10, 1910.

l 5 SHEETS-SHEET o loo 9| COLUMBIA PLANoaR/PH co.. WASHlNa'wN. DA c.

Patented Oct. 7, 1913.

J. GOOD.

GOMBING MACHINE.

APPLIOATION FILED JUNE 1o, 1910.

Patented Oct. 7, 1913.

5 SHEETS-SHEET 5 iff* JOHN soon, OF New YoiK, N. Y.

corriamo-MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent. I

Patented' oct. 7,1913.

Application filed June 1G, 1910. Serial No. 566,154.

To all whom t may concern Be it known that I, JOHN Goor), a citizen ofthe United States, residing in t-he borough of Brooklyn, city and Stateof New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inCombing-Machines, of which the following is a full, true, and concisespecification.

rlhis invention provides improved apparatus for preparing hemp andot-her fiber for spinning, and its more prominent object is thereduction of the number of operations required for reducing the fiberfrom the condition in which it is taken from the bale to the conditionof uniformly attenuated, well combed sliver ready to be supplied to thespinning jenny.

Other objects include the saving of power incident to the fewerOperations, the saving of floor space, economy of labor in attendance,and various further advantages which will be appreciated by thoseskilled in this art from the following description and the illustrativedrawings which form a part hereof.

Figure l of the said drawings is a side elevation of a combingmachinesuch as above referred to, showing one of the several forms in which theinvention may be embodied; Fig. 2 is a cross-section thereof on lineH-II of Fig. l; Fig. 3 is an end elevation of the delivery end of thesameJ machine; Fig. t is a side elevation of an alternate form, Fig. 5being a crosssection thereof on line V-Jf thereof; Fig. 6 is amodification of the forms of Figs. 3 and 4i.

The combing machine of this invention is a multi-feed machine, havingprovisions for the supply of hemp or fiber to be combed at a sufficientnumber of points and in suiiicient quantity at each point to compensatein the body of the resulting combed sliver for the very considerableattenuation that is necessarily incidentl to a thorough disentanglingand straightening of raw or uncombed fiber. The total `attenuationnecessary for the conversion of raw or bale fiber into combed sliverapproximating a spinnable character, if imparted thereto in the form ofone continuous lap, as for instance by passing the same through any ofthe eX- isting machines geared over to the necessary high draft ratio,would exceed the length of the individual fibers to such extent as tointerrupt the continuity of the lap as' such, and thereby eft'ectuallyobstruct the practical operation of the machine. The common draft ratioof such hemp combing machines, that is to say, the relative velocitiesof the high and low speed trains of gill-pins, rarely if ever exceedsthe ratio of twenty to one. If increased above this maximum limit, theproduct sliver tends to become so thin as not to be capable of propercontinuous removal from the higher speed chain, while a compensato-ryincrease of the rate of supply to the lower speed chain quicklyoverloads the pins thereof, the size of which cannot be correspondinglyincreased because of the obvious mechanical limitations to which theyare subject.

rlhe present invention produces a desired total combing effect upon thefiber by subdividing and distributing the combing operation amongseveral simultaneously operating combing heads which may beappropriately termed combing units, since each resembles in principleone of the ordinary hackling-machines having high and low speed gill-pintrains. Each of these units operates upon one of the multiple suppliesof fiber, with very high draft and consequently with specially eiectivecombing action, and their several products, each being a lap or slivermore or less thoroughly combed and very considerably attenuated, arecollected by an appropriate mechanism and combined into a single sliver,which represents a composite of all, and thus possesses a uniformity ofthickness corresponding to the average total of the various products. Aconsiderable number of combino' units, three at the least, andpreferably siX or more, all contributing to the uniformity of theultimate product., is found to be necessary in orde-r to gain the.greatest advantage of the present invention, tho-ugh the number ofunits may be somewhat less, when part of the total attenuation iseffected by the collecting mechanism, which also constitutes a featureof the invention as hereinafter eX- plained. The invention thus operatesto gain uniformity in the product sliver according to a principleresembling the common process of doubling and drawing, but it differstherefrom in that combing is likewise and coincidently effected uponeach of the separate laps and the individual fibers thereof becomethereby distributed longitudinally so as to break Vup the coextensivetermination of adjacent fibers, known as square ends, existing in theraw fiber, and thereby produce-an ultimate' sliver having its individualfibers disposed in uniformly imbricated relation, which effect, as iswell known, cannot be accomplished by doublingV and drawing alone. Themanner of collecting the combed fibers of each combing unit facilitatesthis disposition of the fibers, the collection being accomplished by atrain or chain of gill-pins common to each of the combing units sol thatthe fibers therefrom will fall or be drawn upon it, in superposed andsuccessively,overlapping relation. Such collector train l preferablyoperates as an additional combing instrument, for which purpose it isrun at a greater speed than the high speed trains of the combing unitsfrom which it .collects the fiber so that it will comb and straightenout their respective products. A delivery means serves to remove thefiber from the collector train, and may be geared to exert further draftthereon if desired. It is thus made possible to subject the liber, byone passage through a machine embodying the present invention, to athorough combing action without producing an undesired attenuation inthe ultimate product.

ln each of the exemplifications of the invention herein set forth, theseveral combing units are identical in construction and mode ofloperation, for convenience of manufacture, although they might beotherwise. ln

Y Figs. l to 6, for convenience, only two combing heads are shown, butfrom the foregoing explanation it will be apparent that these machinesare intended to employ many, and preferably six or more of such heads,as

Y desired for the work in hand.

The machines illustrated in the vdrawings are intended for operationupon raw fiber and for this reason the several fiber-receiving devicesthereof are provided with feedboards l upon which the bunches of fiberAare intended to be placed in successively overlapping positions to forma continuous fiber-lap, but it will be understood that when the machineis used for fiber that has al.- ready been combed or formed into laps,the receiving devices will be modified accordingly. The feed boards aremounted on the upright frame posts 2,k and are all inclined in the same'direction so that they can be overlapped as indicated, which compactarrangement enables the operator to supplyy the liber with the leasteffort. The bunches of fiber can'be quickly laid in place upon them by ahorizontal motion, the several boards being open at the sides for thispurpose. Each board terminates at its base in an elbow chute or conduit3, which slightly condenses the lap as it passes through it to thecombing unit mounted immediately below. The combingunits are eachcomprised of two or more trains of gill-pins adapted to operate on thelap according to the principle of the common hackling machine. Thegill-pins thereof may be carried by any suitable means, as for instanceby cylinders, or by articulated chains, or in any other suitable way,whereby a succession of gill-pins is caused to act on the fiber bycontinuous movement in a xed path.

ln the machine illustrated by Figs. 1 to 3,y

ICylinders having. self-housing pins operating in this manner are .wellknown to builders ofhemp and flax working machinery and for this reasonthe details of their construction is not necessary to be describedherein. The upper cylinder l constitutes the low speed train of eachcombing unit,

being driven by a worm and worm wheel 6 from the shaft 7. The pins ofthis train engage the lap directly as it issues from the elbow conduitand conduct and present it to the action of the pins of the lowercylinder 5. This cylinder constitutes the high speed train of the unit7being driven from shaft 7 by bevel gears S and its combing efect uponthe fiber presented toit by the low speed train will be readilyunderstood bythose familiar in this art. The lap is held upon or againstthe pins of both trains by the inclined lap apron 9 which is supportedfor that purpose within the side posts 2. The upper face of this apronis curved in general conformityto the path of movement of the liberconstantly engaged therewith to a uniform extent 'of penetration. All ofthe units ,are mountedto operate or move their pins in a direction whichis inclined toward the delivery end of the machine, reversely to theinclination of the feed boards which supply the liber to them. so thatthey are also compactly contained in the machine frame. As thusorganized the combing units occupy a tandem relation with respect toeach-other and the collector train. rlhe several driving shafts 7y arebevel-geared to a commondriveshaft 10 journaledin brackets 11 on themain side girders 16 of the frame, and this shaft is driven through achange speedv gearing,

indicated somewhat diagrammatically at 12, Y

by the main, transversely.journaled power shaft 13. The collectortrainis formed by a chain of articulated gill-pin bars 14 mounted to run ontracks 15 on the inside faces of the side girders 16, although anysuitable means for producing a succession or train of pins, movingthrough a predetermined path, adjacent to the combing units can beemployed with similar eect. The chain emplo-yed in the present instanceis such as is commonly used in hackling machines, and a description ofits mechanical construction may therefore be omitted. It is driven atits middle by driving sprocket wheels 17 engaged with both the upper andlower stretches. The shaft of the driving sprockets carries a largesprocket wheel 18 driven by sprocket chain 19 from the power shaft 18.At the end of its lo-wer stretch the collector chain passesl over anotched idler wheel 14'd by which it is elevated to the beginning of thetrack of the upper stretch and in moving along this upper stretch itspins are maintained in a forwardly inclined position which is graduallydiminished as they approach the delivery end, and finally reversed asthey move downwardly into the forward end of the lower stretch. Thecontrol of the inclination, or rake, of the collector pins in thismanner is accomplished by means of the dogs on the ends of the gillbarswhich run in appropriate cam-grooves adjacent the tracks 15. lllhe dogsappear in Fig. 2,v and their construction and mode of opera-tion arequite well-known to perso-ns familiar with this art.

`When the machine is built with a suflicient number of combing units allcontributing to the collector train and each producing the desireddegree of combing effect, the collector chain 14 may be driven at aspeed substantially equal to that of the high speed trains of thecombing units so that the combed fibers therefrom will be deposited uponthe collector chain without further combing or further attenuation, inwhich case the chain will serve solely as a collector to combine theproducts of the several units and convey them as a composite sliver tothe delivery head, which removes them from the chain. It is preferred,however, that the collector chain shall also contribute to the combingaction of the machine, for which purpose it is driven at a higher speedthan the cylinders 5 and engages and draws the fiber therefromwith acoincident combing effect and further attenuation. Each lap suppliedthrough the elbow conduits 3 is thus subjected to successive combingactions, two in the present case, as it moves from the conduit to thedelivery head, the last combing action being effected by a member, thechain 14, which is common to all of the laps, and combines them. As thepins of the combined collector and combing chain approach the deliveryhead, the reversal of their normal forward inclination enables them toleave the lap by withdrawal in an endwise direction.

The delivery head, stationed at the end of the upper stretch of thecollector chain 14, comprises a system of rollers appropriatelyjournaled in the side frames and carrying two apron belts, 21 and 21a,of leather, which run in contact with each other from a point at aboutthe level of the chain 14 to the top of the head. The fiber on the chainis directed into the nip of these two belts by the guide board 14b andis thereby carried upwardly, becoming deposited upon a short conductorchute 22 from whence it passes through the calender rolls 23 into thesliver can. rlhe system of delivery -head rollers is driven by a belt orchain 24 from the power shaft and the calender rolls, by a suitable beltconnection 25 from one of the roller shafts. rEhe mechanical details ofthe delivery head, like the collector chain 14, are also well known tothis art. When combined in the present invention, the speed of its beltsis adjusted to that of the chain 14 so that it exerts more or less draftupon the composite sliver according to the body of the latter, and whenthe number of combing units is sufficient to form a composite sliver onthe collector chain of greater thickness or body than is necessary orrequired for the next succeeding operations, the draft of the deliveryhead may be correspondingly increased to reduce such sliver to a properor desired transverse dimension.

Referring now to Figs. 4 and 5, it is apparent that the principle ofconstruction and operation is the same as the machine above described.The gill-pin trains of the combing units, however, are formed byarticulated chains 26 and 27, like the chain 14, in-

stead of by gill-pin cylinders, and for that reason the pins thereofhave the advantage that they may travel in straight paths and engage thefiber for a greater distance. rlhe upper and lower chains are shown asbeing the same in size and length, being carried on the notched wheels28 and 29 respectively, which are journaled in the side frames. rlracksand cam ribs, not shown, are also provided to guide the movement of thepins and the rake thereof. A lap-apron 30, which in this form is a flatboard, holds the fiber at uniform penetration on the pins. rf'he slowspeed chain 2G may move with its pins raked forwardly during the earlypart of their operative path to give them positive engagement with thefiber, but as they approach the higher speed chain 27, their rake isgradually reversed, as indicated, in orderto keep the liber from beingpulled too readily from them by the action of the lower chain. Power isapplied to the chains through their lower carrier wheels, the drive ofone being through a worm wheel and worm from the shaft 7, and the otherthrough bevel gears from the same shaft.V

substitution of different driving memwhich there should be several, andon en-v gaging the collect-or chain 14 will be again and further combed,producing a combed sliver on the said chain which is removed in theobvious manner bythe delivery head and deposited inthe sliver can.

In machines built as above described, the draft ratio of the members ofeach combing unit is made sufficiently high to perform the greater partof the combing andimbricating action necessary while the pins of thecollector chain perform the remainder. The draft ratio of the members ofthe combing units may, for instance, be SO or 90 to l, which willbesufticient to dissipate square ends in manila hemp and clean anddisentangle the snarled and matted fibers with a fair degree ofthoroughness, and if the collector chain have a draft ratio of say 3 tol to the combing' units, the additional combing and imbricating actionthereby effected will produce a product still more thoroughly combed.The attenuation of the lap incident to the high draft employed in eachVunit will necessarily call for a suiiicient rate of fiber supply to forma removable composite sliver on the collector chain, and this isaccomplished by the multiplicity of contributing heads or combing unitsas above eX- plained; from all of which it will be observed that thisinvention provides a means for attaining, in a single continuousoperation, any degree of combing or hackling effect that may be desiredin the preparation. of the fiber for spinning, although the invention,it will be understood, is not in any way limited by the extent ofcombing which it is called upon or constructed to perform in a singlepassage of liber through it.

F ig. 6 shows the same arrangement of high and low speed chainsconstituting the combing units, as shown in Figs. 4E and 5, but in thisform of machine the liber from the high speed combing unit chains ispositively withdrawn bv a pair of rollers 3l and by them deposited uponthe collector chain 14; otherwise the machine is the same as thepreceding. rlhe rollers 3l are driven by bevel gearing 32 from the shaft10.

In all of the above forms the combing trains of t-he several unitsoperate in an inverted position, which is particularly suitable for highdraft operation and hence preferred, since gravity is thus made toassist in the transfer of the fiber to the collector chain andfacilitates its deposit upon the latter in longitudinal and parallelpositions without tendency `of looping or bunching,

and moreover, the arrangement permits the lower portions of the lap,which are in contact with the lap apronr9 on the under side of the bodyofthe lap, to engage first with the pins of the collector chain so that,if such portions have not receivedV uniform combing in the combing unit,they are compensated by the collector chain. Y

The driving and speed-changing connec as a whole will be susceptible ofadjustment to fibers of different lengths and character and to differentresults. Y Y

It will be understood by those skilled in this art that the machinesabove described are not limited in respect of the size or proportion oftheir parts or pins, nor of their draft ratio, nor to the details Vofthe mechanical assemblage, and lthat various omissions, substitutionsand alterations'in the form and operation may bemade without departingfrom the invention. It .will be observed, moreover, that the severalcombing units thereof can be used with different kinds of fiber and withdifferent draft ratios and sizes of gill-pins or with such other changesin relative proportions as may adapt` Y it for the most effectiveoperation 'upon the kind or kinds of iber'with which it is to be used. yY

I claim:

l. A combing machine adapted to receive three or more separate,continuous supplies of the ber to be combed, a corresponding number ofcombing-units each composed of high and low speed gill-pin trainsrespectively operative with a combing effect on each of such separatesupplies, in combination with means for collectingrthe products of allsaid combing-units and combining the same into a single sliver.

2. A combing machine, comprising three or more feed-boards adapted forthe forming of bunches of raw fiber into continuous laps of fiber, acombing-unit for each such lap, each unit comprising a gill-pin trainfor conducting the lap and a higher speed train cooperating therewithwith combing effect upon the lap,rin combination with means common toall the said combing-units for combining their combed products into acontinuous, composite sliver. Y

3. A combing machine, comprising a plus rality of feed-.boardsterminating in/ elbow,

conduits, a combing-unit operative upon the fiber issuing from each suchconduit and mechanism common to each unit for collecting and co-mbiningthe fiber combed thereby.

4. A. combing machine having a plurality of feed-boards inclined in thesame direction and adapted for the formation of bunches of raw fiberplaced thereon into continuous fiber-lap, a combing-unit operative uponeach lap at the base or end of its feed-board and a common conveyermechanism adapted to collect and combine the combed fiber of all thecombing units.

5. A combing machine, comprising a plurality of combingunits, eachcomprising high and low-speed gill-pin trains, means for supplying fiberto be co-mbed to said units and conveyer and collector means mounted totravel beneath said combingunits for collecting and combining the combedfiber from each of them into a single sliver.

'8. A combing machine, comprising a gillpin train forming a travelingconveyormember, a plurality of combing-units arranged in tandem relationwith respect to the path of movement of said conveyer member and meansfor operating said combing-units whereby they deliver their respectivecombed products in superposed relation to said member.

7. A combing machine, comprising a plurality of suitable means forforming bunches of fiber into continuous fiber-laps and individualcombing-pin trains operative respectively on each of' said laps to combthe same, in combination With a train of collecting gill-pins common toeach of said first nientioned trains for collecting the combined fiberstherefrom as a composite sliver of the several ber-laps.

8. A combing machine., comprising a plurality of feed-boards suitablefor receiving bunches of fiber to form the same into continuousfiber-laps, a plurality of means for conducting said laps from thefeed-boards, a plurality of combing-pin trains for combing them, and atrain of collecting pins common to each of said combing-pin trains andadapted to deliver the fibers combed thereby as a single sliver.

9. A combing machine, comprising in combination, a plurality ofcombing-units each composed of high and low speed gillpin trains, andgill-pin conveyer mechanism common to said units adapted for collectingthe combed fibers therefrom and delivering the same as a compositesliver.

10. In a combing machine, a plurality of means for receiving and formingbunches of fiber into continuous fiber-laps, a corresponding number ofcombing-units respectively operative upon -each of said laps and adaptedto deliver combed ber product thereof upon a conveyer member, incombination with a moving train of pins constituting said conveyermember.

11. In a combing machine, a plurality of combing-units each adapted foroperation upon a separate fiber-lap and organized to deliver theirrespect-ive products to a conveyer member, a moving train of pinsconstituting suoli conveyer member and means for driving the same withdraft over said combing units.

12. ln a combing machine, the combination With a moving train ofgill-pins, of a plurality of combing-units each adapted for combingoperation independent of the others and delive "ing their respectivecombed products to successive points along the receiving stretch of saidmoving train.

13. riihe combination in a combing machine, of a plurality of low-speedgill-pin trains, a corresponding number of higher speed trainsrespectively coperating therewith, and a single train of combing pinscommon to all said last mentioned trains and means for moving the sameat a still higher speed.

14. lfhe combination in a combing machine, of three or morecombing-units each comprising a gill-pin train having combing effectupon the fiber passing therethrough, a common collecting train for saidunits eX- erting` draft on the fiber received from said units and adelivery-head for the fiber on said common collecting train exertingdraft thereon.

15. A combing machine having organized therein a plurality offeed-boards and a single sliver-delivery head, in combination With meansfor combing and simultaneously conducting the fiber from each feed-boardto the delivery-head, said means comprising a plurality of gill-pintrains operative With combing effect upon the fiber moving from eachfeed-board at tvvo or more successive points in the passage of saidfiber to the delivery-head.

16. A. combing machine having organized therein a plurality of means forreceiving fiber, and a single sliver delivery combined With means forseparately conducting the fiber introduced at each receiving means tothe said delivery, said means comprising a series of trains ofgill-pins, each train transmitting its fiber-l ap direct to thesucceeding train in the series and each succeeding train eXertin draftupon the lap taken thereby.

17. A combing machine having organized therein, a plurality of means forreceiving liber and a single sliver-delivery head, in combination Withmeans for conducting the fiber introduced at each receiving means tot-he said delivery head, said means comprising a series of trains ofgill-pins, each train transmitting its ber lap directly to a succeedingtrain in the series and the last train in the series being common to allthe said succeeding trains and adapted to conduct the combed fibersthereof to the said .sliver delivery, each succeeding train and the saidlast train exerting draft on the fiber.

18. ln a combing machine, the combination with a plurality of combingunits each comprising high Yand low speed gill-pin trains, the pinsthereof being pointed downwardly and a conveyer member traveling beneathsaid units and common to all of them.

19. In amulti-feed combing machine, a plurality of combing-units, eachvhaving high and low speed gill-pin trains and disposed n downwardlypointed position to move in a path forwardly'and `downwardly inclinedwith respect to the movement of the collector member and a collectormember common to all of said units. Y

20. ln a combing machine, the combination of a collector combing-pinchain, a plu-y rahty of combing-units arranged m tandem Y relation alongsaid chain. and delivering ber thereto and a delivery-head for removingthe fiber from saidA combing chain.

lnV testimony whereof, I'have signed this specifica-tion in the presenceof two witnesses.

JOHN GOOD. llVitnesses:

' T. H. Pnossnn,

CLIFFORD H. KLOS.

Uopies of this patent may be obtained for iive cents each, byAaddressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C.

